The Pioneer and the Cosmopolitan

Abstract

With the rise of economic globalisation and the increasing power of supra-national forces (particularly major corporations), the capacities of national governments to regulate economic development have declined. However, the role of sub-national governments, particularly state governments, has grown, as national governments have looked to local and regional areas to achieve greater international competitiveness (Harding 1996: 645–647). Major corporations operate according to a global, ‘borderless’ rationale, while local and regional policy makers are very much bound by their spatial location (Keating 1993: 376–378). This paper assesses the capacities of state governments and local communities within a globalised economy to regulate development. It focuses on tourism in Queensland and Hawaii, through an examination of the careers of the initiators of the largest tourism developments in the two states — Keith Williams in Queensland and Christopher Hemmeter in Hawaii. Each has become a tourist icon in his respective state. Whereas Williams has a public image as a dogged pioneer and builder, Hemmeter's public image is of a restless cosmopolitan designer. The paper evaluates their two careers within the context of the contrasting approaches to regulation of tourism development in Queensland and Hawaii.